Living Archives - Financial Planning in Surrey

Is this The End?

Dominic Thomas
Jan 2026 • 3 min read

Is this The End?

One of the most difficult topics with new clients is a discussion about endings. Sometimes a new client is leaving an existing adviser or abandoning their former way of thinking about their finances; however you will probably gather that I’m more of the Stephen Covey persuasion … of starting with the end in mind. I encourage discussion about what will have been truly important when you reach the end of your life and look back on your decisions.

At the start of the month, I went to see a new play by David Eldridge at the Dorfman – National Theatre simply called End. It’s a single act with just two characters – Alfie (Clive Owen) and Julie (Saskia Reeves). I found it utterly engaging. Set in north London in June 2016, it’s a remarkable piece full of topical history and poignancy. Alfie and Julie are confronted with an inability to communicate well in the present for fear of the future and the legacy of the past; a very familiar condition. As the play only runs until 17^th January 2026 I doubt I will be providing many with problematic spoilers.

We quickly learn that Alfie has terminal cancer but has had enough of the treatment, therefore he is thinking about his ‘end’ and reminiscing, but perhaps romanticising it. He doesn’t want Julie or their daughter with him, therefore he will say his goodbyes and head off quietly, like cats do. He wants to be buried with his parents.

Julie is shocked at his reluctance to continue his treatment, she wants him to fight to live and has been scouring the internet for alternative treatments. She admits her own romanticised ideas of burial, but it wouldn’t be with her mother-in-law and she also notes what a practical problem it would be for her to make the trip to visit the site anyway.

As you might expect, there are heated and emotionally exhausting exchanges. We learn of their past relational problems, their disappointments with one another and their very deep real love. We learn of their careers, triumphs and setbacks, their ‘dirty laundry’ and some of their contradictions. Life and relationships are never without complexity if they are honest. The societal setting is also helpful – Brexit, the recent end of an era as Alfie’s team (West Ham) moved from Upton Park to the Olympic stadium and his particular taste in music, acting as a wonderful signifier of change. There are plenty of nods to the social forces that are about to be unleashed and how for many of us progressives, the London Olympics was the high point of the last five decades with a decline ever since.

Alfie and Julie just about manage to navigate the highly charged topic of impending death, something that many of us have experienced (and some of you very recently) and undoubtedly each audience will have been touched deeply by these experiences too; it is all too common and all too ordinary, but ordinarily ignored or avoided. Dashed hopes and expectations from a life that we have little real control over.

The truth is that great financial planning is about your ‘story’, wherever it may have started and whatever direction it may take. My role is to help you to clarify what is important, therefore bringing a sense of structure and direction – and then build the financial pathway to facilitate this, but of course, we cannot predict the future. I have a crystal ball in the office as a bit of a joke, but I rarely use it in a meeting (it’s a fairly lame joke and to be honest I forget about it!). The point is of course that on one hand we all would quite like to know the future, believing it would provide the illusion of comfort, but the reality is almost precisely the opposite. Knowing the future strips the unpredictability of life and its joy. The little that we can truly control and hope to master is our response. Much like you, Alfie and Julie, I am also a work in progress with much to learn. I wonder how your conversation’s going about the one certainty?

Therefore as we face a new year, which appears to have begun with more chaos, quite deliberately manufactured by a deranged right wing, I am mindful of the challenges to be confronted, whilst acknowledging that people are people and beliefs, however baseless, are rather difficult to change.

Is this the end? Yes and no. It is the end of something but the start of something else. What I do know is what you know … life is brief – so make the most of it. Was the play worth seeing? Most definitely, brilliant performances from both of them. You will probably be able to see it on the National Theatre streaming service. Here is their trailer which gives little away (as a trailer should!):

Ref: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/end/

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Is this The End?Jemima Thomas2026-01-20T13:45:24+00:00

Is there a ‘crisis of meaning’ in retirement?

Jemima Thomas
Sept 2025 • 2 min read

Is there a ‘crisis of meaning’ in retirement?

I recently read an article about why the workplace is facing a ‘crisis of meaning’, and why and how to fix it. It’s a topic thrown around a lot this year with close friends of mine as we recently turned 30. Some of us are beginning to really flourish at work & can start to see our careers taking off, whilst others are beginning to question whether to start over entirely, or are feeling incredibly depressed with the notion of doing their job for the next 40 years, but simply don’t see what they’d do instead…

The article was largely reiterating that finding purpose in one’s job doesn’t have to be the ‘be all and end all’; but rather that your work being meaningful is strongly associated with greater contentment. Whilst this post isn’t meant to probe you to question your working life, there is a noticeable similarity on the meaning of work, that we sometimes have with clients and their retirement. There is the uncomfortable reality of what day to day life is going to look like without work, particularly when work has been a large source of gratification, so we know for some of you this can be incredibly anxiety-inducing. For the first time (pretty much ever) you will be faced with asking yourself questions work has largely been answering for you (or covering your need to ask entirely).

On the surface, it seems easy to conjure up a list of fun things to do when you retire, but imagining an average day, let alone how you’d like to live ‘the rest of your life’ can be hard.

Those of you who have been a long-term client of ours will know these questions are not new, nor are they ones we shy away from asking here at Solomon’s. So here is a small collection of questions I hope some of you begin to entertain before retirement becomes your reality.

What do you want to spend your time doing?
What do you enjoy doing?
What do you want to achieve with your life?
What makes your life meaningful?
Think of some people you admire – what do you admire about them?
What gives your life purpose?
What makes you feel like you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing?
What matters to you?
What values do you think are the most important?
How would you like people to describe you?

For our next edition of Spotlight we will be covering this topic further, so I would also like to ask those of you who have retired successfully … please share with us how your experience has been and what insights you can offer to those about to reach a similar milestone. You can reach me at jemima@solomonsifa.co.uk

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Is there a ‘crisis of meaning’ in retirement?Jemima Thomas2025-09-19T10:23:17+01:00

What month would you be in if life were a year?

Dominic Thomas
Aug 2025 • 3 min read

What month would you be in if life were a year?

One of the most difficult aspects of my work is approaching the subject of death. We covered some practical elements of this in our last edition of Spotlight (Spring 2025). It’s a very difficult topic, one of the last taboos. Most of us would prefer to avoid the discussion, in fact I have even met a couple of people who told me not to talk about it because it would hasten their death, which is one of the more strange responses I have had.

Most of us grow up with the expectation that life will be long, we will reach old age and have a lengthy, good retirement. We all come to experience loss; some of us at a very early age. We are often shocked by the news of someone young, or relatively young who has died. It feels as though their lives have been cut short.

The purpose of raising the subject is not to be the voice of doom, but to enable you to really do two things. Firstly, prepare for your death, which means getting your legal documents in place and ensuring that your beneficiaries are properly taken care of. Secondly, it is a reminder that life is brief, none of us know when it is our time, so we ought to be attempting to live a full life, one that doesn’t have too much deferred into the future, but feels very fulfilling here and now in the present.

You may have seen all sorts of data showing the average life expectancy of a man or woman in the UK. There is even a “death clock” which takes your age now and calculates the expected day of your death based on your health, outlook and country of residence. This of course is an informed guess based on international averages. The reality is that if you have a financial planner, you have money. And if you have money, you probably have the ability to access better healthcare and make better dietary/fitness choices. You probably (not necessarily) have a lower level of stress. As a result, you are likely to outlive the average.

However, most of us rarely think about this and go about our lives with the expectation of a fairly long and healthy future ahead of us still. We tend to think life will stretch out ahead of us, there will be ample time. However, if life was a calendar year, I wonder what month you would be in?

If we were to consider each month representing eight years of our lifetime, then life expectancy would be 96. Turning 56 means it’s July with the expectation of a few summer months. At 72 you have reached October. I wonder if thinking about life this way might encourage us to take each day a little more thankfully – and thoughtfully. The average person would have each month represent seven years, so at 56 it’s August already.

It’s a bit alarming and perhaps morbid, but surely an important reminder that life is very brief indeed. We don’t know what the future holds, but ask yourself, do you really want to be spending a significant proportion of it worrying about money or attempting to manage it? Ultimately, that is the point of delegating your financial planning to us, so that you can go and do the important things that you value most.

Sadly, I regularly meet people with diagnosed conditions that shorten their lives; and whilst we all know that money cannot buy time, actually you can create more time to do the things that you value because of the backdrop of a great financial plan based on what’s important to you. It is never about you spending valuable time managing your own investments.

References:

Death Clock: https://www.death-clock.org/

ONS mortality tables: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths

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What month would you be in if life were a year?Jemima Thomas2025-08-21T15:39:46+01:00

Solomon’s bucket list

Jemima Thomas
June 2025 • 2 min read

Solomon’s bucket list

Our latest Spotlight edition is due to be arriving with you all shortly and whilst we appreciate the theme is a little ‘heavier’ than usual, it is an important topic that we mustn’t be afraid to talk about. Death and bereavement can often bring to light how we feel about the way we are living our own lives at the time; an opportunity for reflection and something of a re-set if you like.

Am I living authentically?

Is the life I’ve made for myself enough?

Am I “happy”, content or fulfilled?

If you’ve been a client of ours for any length of time, these questions won’t be new to you. Our priority is always to ensure that your financial plan is aligned with your values, goals, needs, desires, sense of purpose – or your “why?” so of course you will have been encouraged to think about your long-term aspirations (financial and otherwise).

We sometimes feature holiday and travel destinations in Spotlight and in our blog, largely to inspire you with places we know are on many a bucket list, but for various reasons travelling is not always possible or easy to navigate particularly the older we get. In our opinion, when ‘travel’ is no longer feasible, it is important to continue to have meaningful experiences that bring pleasure to you (and your loved ones) and create memories that you can look back on fondly.

We thought it might be interesting to give you a very small taste of some simple-pleasure-bucket-list ideas from the team here at Solomon’s. These are all largely doable experiences that we wish to complete this year (or in our lifetimes!).

All of these things give each of us a real sense of joy, which after all is what we’re all really looking for. Life is for living.

We would love it if any of you would be willing to share things that are on your bucket list that are a bit ‘out of the ordinary’ – there may be things we haven’t even considered! Please email jemima@solomonsifa.co.uk with details!

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Solomon’s bucket listJemima Thomas2025-06-05T16:04:39+01:00